Chennai's Mylapore: The Historic Neighborhood That Shaped Tamil Film Music
Draw a line westward from the house where the legendary composer M S Viswanathan (MSV) once lived on Santhome High Road in Chennai, and you begin to trace a uniquely musical neighborhood. This line crosses the home of playback singer Sirkazhi Govindarajan, passes the residence of another iconic singer, T M Sounderarajan, who recorded over 4,000 songs, and finally reaches the house of Tiruchi Loganathan.
A furlong to the south stands the residence of V N Sundaram, a former boy's company actor who later became a film star and playback singer. Within just a few streets of each other in and around Mylapore lived some of the defining voices of Tamil cinema.
The Recent Recognition of Musical Heritage
The recent renaming of three streets in Chennai after composer MSV and playback singers Govindarajan and Tiruchi Loganathan, along with the earlier honor accorded to Sounderarajan, has drawn renewed attention to Mylapore and its surrounding localities. This area has long served as a residential hub for film music personalities, many of whom acquired their homes through the CIT scheme.
Introduced by the Madras City Improvement Trust, the forerunner to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, this scheme helped lower-income residents build houses. Over several decades, multiple factors converged to attract musicians to this distinctive neighborhood.
Factors That Drew Musicians to Mylapore
Mylapore had already emerged as a center of Carnatic music with the rise of sabha culture, while relatively affordable accommodation made it particularly attractive to singers and composers hoping to build careers in cinema. The centuries-old Kapaleeswarar temple served as another significant draw for musicians to the area.
Papanasam Sivan, the composer behind many songs sung by star Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, first came to Mylapore to perform during the Kapali temple festival. His soulful bhajans on misty Margazhi mornings are still remembered with deep nostalgia. Sivan initially lived in a rented portion on Srinivasan Street, off St Mary's Road, before purchasing his own house there.
Early Connections to Tamil Cinema
In the infant years of Tamil talkies in 1933, residents of Mylapore were already connected to the new medium. Mylapore lawyer and music patron A Sundaram Iyer traveled with his family to Kolhapur for the film 'Sita Kalyanam.' This Tamil quickie was directed by actor V Shantaram, who decided to shoot it on the sets of his 'Sairandhri' to offset its losses.
In the film, Sundaram Iyer's son Rajam played Rama, his daughter Jayalakshmi portrayed Sita, while he himself appeared as Janaka, Sita's father. S Balachander, Rajam's younger brother, who had appeared as a precocious musician in Ravana's court in 'Sita Kalyanam,' went on to become a lead actor, comedian, director, and producer of whodunnits, in addition to scoring music for his own films.
The 1940s: A Growing Musical Community
By the 1940s, several streets in Mylapore had begun to host composers associated with the rapidly growing film industry. R Sudarsanam of AVM Studios first lived in a rented portion on Brodies Road, later renamed Ramakrishna Mutt Road, before moving to his own bungalow in Karpagambal Nagar on the road leading to Vivekananda College.
The Brodies Road house saw another resident connected to the film world. Rajeswari Ammal, who would later become A V Meiyappan's wife, had once stayed there while visiting Madras to record a gramophone song for AVM's Saraswathi Stores.
In a nearby street, composer C R Subburaman worked out of a rented house, where he trained singers such as M L Vasanthakumari, preparing them for film recordings. Subburaman's life was brief but intense; he died in the same house in 1952 at just 28 years old.
The Circle of Musical Talent
Subburaman's circle included several young musicians who would go on to define Tamil film music. Among them was MSV. When he first arrived in Madras as a musical assistant, Viswanathan lived in a small thatched portion on the crowded Adanjan Mudali Street in nearby Mandaveli before moving to his own residence on Santhome High Road.
It was outside this very house that the young Ilaiyaraja once waited to seek his blessings. The growth of Madras as the prime center of Tamil film production in the second half of the last century was truly phenomenal.
Madras as a Film Production Hub
By 1953, the city had at least 15 film studios, most clustered around Kodambakkam, creating steady opportunities for singers and music directors. Many chose to live in Mylapore, which lay within easy reach of the recording studios and was also one of the city's established residential neighborhoods.
The presence of film production companies in the area added to its appeal. There were more than 20 companies in 1950, and by 1956 the number had risen to 32. Mylapore's narrow streets were soon home to several gurus, making it a natural destination for aspiring singers and musicians.
Musical Education in Mylapore
One such teacher was Pattamadai Krishnan, who lived on Nattu Subbaraya Mudali Street and trained many students who would later find their way into cinema and the concert stage. Mylapore was also home to one of the greatest teachers of Western music, Dhanraj Master, who taught generations of students from his little room in Sai Lodge, now located near the Thirumayilai station.
It was here that Ilaiyaraja learned the intricacies of harmony. Most of these historic residences have submitted to the ravages of time, and the few that remain stand at the crossroads of change. Yet nothing can stop the powerful nostalgia that these streets continue to evoke.
